Lies Read online

  *****

  Susie felt much better after a long nap that afternoon. The boys were a lot more watchful of her today, as if they were trying to decide what was going on between her and their dad. She wished she could tell them, but the answer just wasn’t there.

  She fixed dinner for everyone, and had it served when Mark arrived. “Do you want to eat first or were you planning on catching a bite before the movie?”

  “I thought we’d do Movie Tavern. We can get dinner and eat it while we watch the movie.” It was his favorite place to take Matthew and Michael. He hoped she’d like it as well.

  “I’ve never done that. Sounds fun!” She grabbed her purse and waved to her parents.

  “Don’t hurry back,” Beth called. “We’ll just let the boys sleep here tonight.”

  After they stepped outside, Mark and Susie exchanged looks. “Are they trying to get us to sleep together?” Mark asked her.

  Susie shrugged. “Kinda sounds like it, doesn’t it?” With as much as her parents liked Mark, she wouldn’t be surprised. She half-expected them to lock her and Mark into a room with only a bed in it and not let them out until she was pregnant.

  Mark grinned down at her. “Maybe they’re hoping you’ll like sex so much that you’ll move back to Texas.” He liked that idea, but didn’t say anything.

  “Or that I’ll feel so guilty, I’ll feel the need to marry you.”

  “Either one would work for me.”

  She sighed. “I feel like I’m the victim of a conspiracy. Your boys give me these weird looks. My dad tells me I have to go out with you. My mom tells me not to hurry home. Does no one think I’m capable of deciding things on my own?”

  Mark laughed as he buckled his seat belt. “I’m certainly willing to do my part. Is this where I just drive to my house and carry you to my bed?”

  “No, this is where you drive me to the movie. What are we seeing anyway?” She knew Mark would pick something they’d both like. He knew her tastes as well as he knew his own.

  “The new superhero movie. We used to watch them all together.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, and you’d whisper in my ear the whole time saying how stuff didn’t happen that way in real life. You have figured out now that comic books aren’t real life, right?”

  He stopped at a light and gave her a shocked look. “You’re kidding, right? Did you know that Superman married Wonder Woman?”

  She laughed softly as their eyes met. Why were there no other men who could share this fun banter with her and make her heart beat faster? Why only him?

  He paid for their tickets and picked up a menu and a light on the way in. As they walked, he explained how they would press the light to get their server’s attention whenever they were ready to order something. She was surprised to see tables in front of all the chairs, but realized immediately that it made sense to do it that way.

  He picked two seats up against the back wall. “This way we can make out without anyone noticing,” he whispered.

  She laughed. “I think my days of making out with you in the back row of a movie theater are over. In fact, I think they were over when you turned sixteen and we had a car to make out in.”

  “You know my dad argued with me for months about buying that old clunker. He kept talking about responsibility and insurance payments. I kept thinking about getting my Susie into the backseat, so I could cop a feel.”

  She blushed. “You copped more than one if memory serves me right.”

  He dropped a kiss to her lips. “Never with no clothes on, though. You’d let me shift your shirt up, but I never got to actually take your shirt and bra off.”

  “Well, I had standards.” She giggled softly as she said it. They’d spent a lot of nights in the backseat of his first car. She’d gotten quite an education there.

  He handed her the menu. “I always get the same thing. I bring the boys here all the time.” He watched her as she read over the offerings. How he’d made it through the last twelve years without her in his life, he’d never know. He only knew that he didn’t want to spend the next twelve without her.

  She quickly decided on a wrap and then looked over at him catching him watching her. “What? Is my nose crooked?”

  “I just can’t believe that we’re actually together again. It’s like every dream I’ve had for twelve years has come true.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder and dropped her hand to his jean-clad thigh, squeezing it. She couldn’t think of the right words to say, so opted to say nothing at all. It was enough, for now, that they were spending time together and everything was going well. She’d be leaving for Colorado in six weeks. How would she handle that?

  The movie was wild and packed with action. She loved every minute of it. Mark’s quiet whispers in her ear told her when the story-line strayed from the comic book line that he’d been reading all his life. She hadn’t been able to watch a superhero movie without him, missing those comparisons of the movie and the “real world”.

  He grabbed her hand as they left. It was still early, but he drove straight back to his house parking in the driveway. “Would you like to come in?” he asked.

  “Are you going to give me the grand tour?” she asked skeptically.

  “I’d like you to see the house. I know you grew up next door, but I’ve made a lot of changes that I think you’ll like.” She followed him inside and he showed her around. “I made sure everything was clean before I picked you up this afternoon.”

  She grinned. “Haven’t gotten any neater over the years?” The few times she’d been in his room when they were younger, it had been a disaster.

  He shook his head. “I hire someone to clean every other week so we’re not buried in dust, but we’re not very good about picking up after ourselves.”

  He took her to the boys’ room. They had bunk beds and the toys were strewn everywhere. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “You cleaned?”

  He shrugged. “I picked the underwear up off the floor.”

  She laughed. “I guess that means it’s clean.”

  There was a spare room between the boys and the master. “This was Jennifer’s room.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Jennifer had her own room?”

  “After I found out about her abortion, she did. We were just roommates for the last six years of our marriage.”

  “I’m sorry it was so hard for you, but you did choose to marry her.” She wanted to keep everything light-hearted, but she had to point that out.

  He nodded. “Did your dad tell you the whole story?”

  “Some of it, I think.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the whole story.

  He led her to the couch. “When I called you the second semester you were at school, you were never in your room. Why?”

  “I went to the library to study. Jennifer promised she’d tell you to call me at nine, but you never did. She swore up and down she told you. I was so busy with my schoolwork that I couldn’t even come home for weekends.”

  He sighed. “That’s what I figured. She told me that you were with a different guy every night. She made up all these elaborate stories about who you were with. She’d keep me on the phone for a good hour every night talking to me about all the men you kept bringing back to the room, and about how you wouldn’t come home at all most nights.”

  “And you believed her.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. How could he have believed that of her?

  “I didn’t at first. But she kept saying it over and over. It got to the point where I’d heard it so many times that I didn’t know what to believe anymore. So I drove up there. I knew if I looked into your eyes, I’d know the truth of what you said.”

  “And that’s when you started seeing Jennifer?” She still didn’t understand how he and Jennifer had hooked up. On one hand, she didn’t want to know. On the other, she had a burning need to find out.

  “No! I went to your room, and talked to her for a minute, telling her I just wasn�
�t leaving until you got home. I heard the outer door to the suite open, and she grabbed me and hugged me. Told me she was really sorry you were treating me that way.”

  “And you fell for it?”

  He shook his head. “No. You walked in and freaked out. The look on your face told me that you believed the worst and I got scared I’d lose you and started shouting at you about your other boyfriends. The next thing I knew I had my ring back and I was engaged to Jennifer. I don’t even remember asking her to marry me. She just kept calling me and talking to me about the wedding plans.”

  “So you married her.”

  He nodded. “It was a clear way to get back at you for not loving me enough. I didn’t know if you’d really been seeing other guys, but even if you hadn’t, you didn’t love me enough to believe in me.”

  “I’m sorry for not believing in you. If you’d explained instead of marrying her, we probably would have sorted this out twelve years ago.”

  “I know. I was an idiot.”

  She looked at him, seeing the reflection of the lost years in his eyes. “So was I.”

  He moved across the couch toward her. “Will you forgive me for being an idiot?”

  She nodded. “Of course, I forgive you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I still don’t totally trust you, though. What if you decide I’ve had an affair five years down the road, and instead of talking to me about it, and asking me, you do something stupid again? Something that would irreparably ruin our relationship?”

  He raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I can say that won’t happen. I can’t give you a written guarantee.”

  “Think back to how you felt when you thought I was dating other guys. And now imagine how I’ve felt all these years knowing you were married to Jennifer of all people.”

  “I get it. I do. Let me make it up to you.”

  “I really wish I could just wipe what happened from my mind. That I could start completely fresh with you. But I can’t. The trust between us is going to hafta be rebuilt.”

  “I know, but I feel like I’m in a time crunch. How can I possibly get you to trust me again so quickly?”

  “Quickly?”

  “I don’t want you to go back to Colorado in six weeks. I want you to stay here. If not as my wife, then stay with your parents and slowly get to know me again. Don’t go back. I can’t convince you to trust me with that much distance between us.”

  She looked down at her hands. “I’ll think about it. If I can let them know within the next two weeks that I’m not going back, they can find another teacher. If not, I’m obligated to stay. At least for the fall semester.” She didn’t add that she had a job offer in Seattle as well.

  “So I need to hurry up and convince you that you need to be in my life, huh?” His hand reached down to cup her chin and turn her face up to him.

  “I know the physical attraction is there. You don’t need to demonstrate.”

  “Oh, but I do. I really really do.” He leaned his head down and brushed her lips with his, his hands going to her waist to pull her toward him on the couch. “Set some boundaries now, love. If you don’t, I’m not going to be able to stop.”

  “I’ll tell you when to stop and you’ll stop. You always have. What could make me trust you more?” Honestly, she wasn’t sure where she wanted to draw the line. In high school it was always no hands below the waist, and he could put his hands under her shirt, but no removing the bra. She didn’t want any lines this time. None. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

  “Okay, I’ll try to listen.” He kissed her softly again, his tongue tracing the seam of her lips to request access. When she parted her lips, his tongue swept inside, exploring her mouth. His hands stroked up and down her back, and finally, they slid under her tee-shirt. He stroked her back again, and pulled the shirt over her head, breaking contact with her lips only for long enough to remove the shirt.

  His hands stroked up and down her sides. Finally, he slid one up to cup her breast. It felt weird to be shirtless around him, but he’d seen her in a bikini enough times, that it didn’t seem like something she should care about.

  His hands slipped behind her to unhook her bra, and she pulled away, surprised that he was even trying. She looked into his eyes, and gave a slight nod.

  He stared into her eyes as he slipped the bra straps from her shoulders and pulled the bra off and dropped it on the floor. His eyes dropped to her body, now nude from the waist up. “You’re more beautiful than I’d imagined,” he whispered.

  She’d put on a few pounds since high school, but they added to the fullness of her body rather than making her look chunky. She caught his hand and brought it to her bare breast, offering him what he wanted.

  His lips brushed hers and then slowly worked their way across her cheek and down her neck. His fingers caught her nipple and toyed with it, causing her to arch her back and moan with pleasure. “I love you, Susie,” he whispered against her chest just before he caught her nipple between his lips sucking on it.

  Her fingers threaded through his hair, holding his mouth in place. The sensations running through her body almost scared her with their intensity. His hands moved down to the fly of her jeans, unfastening them and pushing them down over her hips and off her body. She sat before him in only her panties. She’d always imagined she’d be embarrassed in this situation, but the worshipful look in Mark’s eyes prevented that. He wanted her and he wasn’t afraid to let her see it.

  Thus far, she’d reacted to what he’d done to her, but hadn’t been much of a participant in their lovemaking. She realized she didn’t want it to be that way. She wanted to see him and touch him as much as she wanted to be touched. She caught the hem of his shirt and lifted it over his head. Dropping the shirt on the floor, her hands ran through the light dusting of hair on his chest.

  She applied pressure to his shoulders and pushed him onto his back, so he was lying flat on the couch. “I want to see you,” she whispered.

  She followed him down, lying flat on top of him, letting her bare breasts press into the soft springy hair on his chest. She pressed her lips to his, kissing him passionately. She’d never been the aggressor in their relationship, but it was time. Her hands roamed up and down his sides, feeling the hard muscles that his physical job gave him.

  Wanting to feel and see more of him, she was frustrated at the lack of room on the couch. She leaned down and whispered, “Take me to your bed.”

  She rolled off the side of the couch to her feet, waiting for him. He stood up and scooped her into his arms, carrying her to his bed. He laid her down gently and followed her down. He leaned on one elbow and ran his hand down her chest, stopping to stroke her nipple on his way down to her flat stomach. The fading sunlight through the windows gave her an ethereal look.

  She looked into his eyes and knew she wouldn’t be stopping him tonight. If she couldn’t trust him, and spent the rest of her life alone, she’d have this one night to remember.

  She pushed against his shoulders, and he rolled to his back. She got up on her knees facing him. “I want to touch you.”

  He linked his hands behind his head. “Go for it,” he said with a wink.

  She dropped a quick kiss on his lips and sat back on her heels. Where to start? She’d seen him without a shirt on hundreds of times, but he’d filled out a lot since they were teenagers together. Her fingers grazed along his chest down to his flat brown nipples. She touched them watching his face to see his reaction.

  He closed his eyes and groaned softly. He knew she needed this time to get to know his body, but he hoped he could hold out until she was ready.

  One hand drifted down to his midriff just above the waistband of the jeans he was still wearing. He sucked in his stomach as she touched it. “You don’t like that?” she asked.

  He laughed. “I love it. It feels too good.”

  She grinned at that. “I wanna make you feel good. Tell me what you like.”

  “It all feels g
ood to me. All of it. Don’t worry about that, and just do what you want to do.”

  She loved that he was giving her that kind of freedom with his body. She eyed the bulge at the front of his jeans. She’d never actually seen a full grown man nude before. Pictures? Sure. But not in real life.

  Her hands moved automatically to the fly of his jeans, unbuttoning them and pulling the zipper down slowly. She spread the fly wide, and moved her hand into the space she’d created, gripping him through his boxer shorts.

  His hands flew out from behind his head and he caught her hands. “Not yet.” He knew he’d never be able to hold out until she was ready if she was touching him there.

  She pouted at him. “You said I could do anything I wanted. Are you taking that back?” She knew she was playing dirty, but she wanted the freedom to explore his body.

  “I wouldn’t go back on my word,” he whispered tucking his hands back under his head.

  She smiled and gave him one more bold caress, then grabbed the waistband of his jeans. “I want these off.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, but he lifted his hips to accommodate her. He hoped she knew what she was doing as she threw his jeans on the floor, and once again gripped him through his boxers.

  She watched his face as he struggled for control. She knew exactly what she was doing to him, and she loved it. She wanted to make him so crazy with desire for her that he couldn’t see straight.

  She moved down to his feet, and started to kiss a path from his toes up his legs. Her tongue stole out to tease his inner thigh and he grunted loudly. “I need you, Susie.”

  She grinned and rubbed her cheek against his straining erection through his boxers. “Not quite done yet.”

  “I’ll let you finish later. Please?”

  She loved that he was begging. She crawled up his body and straddled him, settling him between her thighs and thrusting against him. She leaned down to kiss him again, her breasts pressing against his chest. “I’ve missed you so much, Mark.”

  His hands snaked out from behind his head and he grabbed her shoulders as he rolled over, reversing their positions. “You can do whatever you want to me later, sweetheart. It’s my turn now.”